Hello all. sorry I took so long to update, I am afraid that I fell victim to the whole first week back from christmas break madness. I managed to get this written though so Ihop eyou enjoy it.

I just want to say that I was amazed with the great feedback for the prologue of this story. I was honestly quiet overwhelm. I don't think I've ever gotten so many reviews and sory alerts right off the bat before. THank-you honestly guys.

Walking Up in the Forest

She heard the soft chirping of the birds and the snort of a horse near. She was extremely confused. Where was she? She felt grass beneath her and dirt under that. Why was she laying on the ground? What had happened to illicit that? A million and one questions popped up in her head and she could not answer most of them.

She heard the rustling of cloth near her and felt something brush against her cheek, pushing some hair of her face in the process. She knew that touch. Well if he was here than nothing must be too wrong then.

"Shara darling, it is time to wake up," the voice of her lovely husband whispered in her ear.

A smile slid to her lips long before she mustered the will to open her eyes and look at him. She could see him mentally and that was almost as good as looking at him. After a few deep breaths, her eyes fluttered open and the memories of the past night-or was it longer ago, she could not recall- came rushing back to her. She sat up, looking around her person, expecting to see the ghastly sights that had sent her into the unconscious.

She found that she was merely in a clearing in the forest just a short trek from her palace. Her dress was in fine shape and she was hardly encircled by dead, bleeding corpses. She wasn't in anything near where she had been late night. This must have been the area that the child had brought her in the real world thought, she figured that there must be a thinner division between the worlds here if the Master had been able to send her as powerful of a vision as he had. It did make her happy that most of it had been in her mind and not real. That would have been just awful.

She surveyed the area she was sitting in. Solders were standing around near the edge of the clearing and some of their horses were left to graze while they waited for orders. The birds were singing and the bees were buzzing. The late summer flowers produced a pleasant smell and butterflies fluttered between the colourful petals. She looked up at her Rahl who was sitting next to her with a relieved look on his face. He nodded to a medicine woman who rushed forward to check if her queen was healthy.

After a few minutes of annoying testing, the woman declared that Shara was fine missus a minor brain bruise, which explained the throbbing headache that slowly started to assault the younger woman, and a few bruises and minor cuts on her arms that would heal quickly. She was ordered to rest for the brain bruise and Shara found that she could not dream of doing anything else once she got home. The headache that racked her brain was overwhelming any urge to do something productive.

Once the medicine lady left then, Rahl helped his young wife to her feet and kept a firm hold on her to keep her from falling due to the dizzy spell she experienced from standing up too quickly. She waited for him to ask her the most obvious question. "What happened to you? ", there he finally asked it, it took him long enough in her opinion.

"Well, I am certain that you wouldn't believe me if I told you," Shara replied finally just after being carefully placed in front of her lord on his horse. She would hate being teased for something that had been so emotionally scaring, which he might just do. She wasn't up for any joking or teasing and hardly knew how she would react if he did.

She watched the solders all mount up and ready to follow their king away, towards the palace. She never noticed that all of the horses that were used were bays or chestnuts before and that if she were on her horse, she would be the only one on a white horse. A coincidence, she thought not.

"Try me, I promise I won't laugh at anything that happened or dismiss it unless you tell me that you saw a purple horse," he said with a slight chuckle as they set off. From her experience her was pretty good at not making too much fun of her crazy visions when they happened.

With a sigh she told him everything that happened to her. His silence made her uneasy but she continued through his silence. It annoyed her that she could not turn to look at his expression due to the way she was sitting and she desperately wanted him to speak, even if it was just to make fun of her or tell her that she had imagined the whole thing. The silence was killing her. The infernal beating of the horse's hooves was making her head pain her even more and the jostling gate of Rahl's horse hardly eased the pain.

"Well that is...unnerving," Rahl said simply. Understatement of the century; what had happened to her was far more than just unnerving. His voice was so float when he said it that she almost thought that was actually mocking her.

"Well, yes it was. I was in the damn underworld love, not a fun place to be. It makes me less willing to die any time soon then before," she said pretty softly so no one else might hear but them.

"I can only imagine how much you suffered, I am sorry if I am not all that comforting at the moment, I am trying to figure out why you might ever go to him for help in the future," Rahl said in her ear, tightening his hold on her to reassure her. He didn't want his wife hating him for not being the loving husband he normally was when they weren't surrounded by people who would think less of him for acting human.

She nodded and let him think for the rest of the trek. Once she got back to their chambers she would demand some form of physical comfort and she just hoped that he knew that. Sure enough, he did. Both instantly forgot the whole 'the queen must rest as much as possible' part of the diagnoses, or maybe they just didn't care to heed it.

*~*~*

The light streaming in from the window made Shara wince. She moaned and begged her maid to close the blinds and leave her to lay in the dark for a bit. Maybe she should have rested instead of going at it with Rahl when she got back. Enter now the old saying: Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda. Now she had to suffer for her momentary lapse in good judgement and resignation to the hormones that coursed through her body whenever she was around him. She would take the pain if it ment she could spend a lifetime with her amazing husband. She hated to admit it but practice made perfect in his case.

Her giddy thoughts did help her forget about the pain but not long enough for her to nod off. The pain kept her from that even though that was what she was ordered to do. How the hell was she supposed to sleep with her head feeling as though it were going to explode? And now Rahl had some work to do so he couldn't even stay with her and keep her company. She was alone in the darkness and had nothing to do but wallow in the pain.

She started to think that there was no way she would be able to eat in public today. She wouldn't have had the will to undress if Rahl hadn't helped with that aspect of getting ready for bed. All she could do was lay there and stifle her moans and groans. She needed something that would dull the throbbing, just take the edge off of it. She had no skills in healing or medicine so she had no idea what to ask for. Just as she was thinking of calling for her maid, the slight girl appeared in her room with glass of tea that smelt awful.

"I was told to make you drink this, it will get rid of most of the pain," the mouse of a girl said not daring to look her queen in the eyes.

With a nod the queen to the cup and forced herself to take a sip of the warm liquid. It tasted horrible but she detected something she would recognize behind all of the potent herbs. It took her a few moments to identify the recognizable substance but it brought a smile to her lips; whoever thought to include some brandy had earned a kudos from her. Each sip was easier than the last and soon the glass was empty.

She lay back down and did find that the pain was significantly less powerful than before. Now at least she would be able to get some must needed rest until her husband came back from his study to 'keep her company'. Yet again the maids would be sent out of the room and candles would be lit. The guard at the door knew better then to comment if they heard anything, which she couldn't imagine how they could not unless the rooms had been spelled soundproof or they were literally deft.

With some of those pleasant thoughts, she drifted off only to be roused in the exact manner she had foretold. There was no way she would be going anywhere till tomorrow now. She had been right in her original predictions. Dinner in their room it was.